gdm not starting when nvidia kernel module is not loaded
When I start gdm without nvidia kernel module loaded into a kernel, it fail to start. I enabled debug option in /etc/gdm/custom.conf
and this is the output recorder in /var/log/messages
Dec Dec 8 02:54:09 fozzie gdm[30792]: GdmSession: Emitting 'session-started' signal with pid '31120'
Dec 8 02:54:09 fozzie gdm[30792]: GdmDisplay: Greeter started
Dec 8 02:54:09 fozzie gdm-x-session[31120]: Enabling debugging
Dec 8 02:54:09 fozzie gdm-x-session[31120]: Preparing auth file for X server
Dec 8 02:54:09 fozzie gdm-x-session[31120]: Running X server
Dec 8 02:54:09 fozzie /usr/libexec/gdm-x-session[31120]: (EE)
Dec 8 02:54:09 fozzie /usr/libexec/gdm-x-session[31120]: Fatal server error:
Dec 8 02:54:09 fozzie /usr/libexec/gdm-x-session[31120]: (EE) Cannot open log file "/var/lib/gdm/.local/share/xorg/Xorg.pid-31122.log"
Dec 8 02:54:09 fozzie /usr/libexec/gdm-x-session[31120]: (EE)
Dec 8 02:54:09 fozzie /usr/libexec/gdm-x-session[31120]: Please consult the The X.Org Foundation support
Dec 8 02:54:09 fozzie /usr/libexec/gdm-x-session[31120]: at http://wiki.x.org
Dec 8 02:54:09 fozzie /usr/libexec/gdm-x-session[31120]: for help.
Dec 8 02:54:09 fozzie /usr/libexec/gdm-x-session[31120]: (EE)
Dec 8 02:54:09 fozzie gdm-launch-environment][31117]: GdmSessionWorker: child (pid:31120) done (signal:2)
Dec 8 02:54:09 fozzie gdm-launch-environment][31117]: GdmSessionWorker: uninitializing PAM
Dec 8 02:54:09 fozzie gdm-launch-environment][31117]: GdmSessionWorker: jumping to VT 2
Dec 8 02:54:09 fozzie gdm[30792]: GDM finished, cleaning up...
The directory /var/lib/gdm/.local
indeed does not exists.
Though gdm fails to start, gnome shell runs just fine when I start it with startx
using a simple .xinitrc
file (just exec gnome-session
). gdm runs fine if I load nvidia
driver into the kernel. My laptop has two gpu's (optimus) and I run bumblebee which switches off the discrete gpu which saves a lot of power. I haven't observed any issues with running this setup in gnome, which let me think it's a problem with gdm.